Spacecraft AR vs Sandbox AR
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Spacecraft AR
Explore the solar system with interactive 3D models of NASA spacecraft. View them in augmented reality, scaled to your environment, and learn about their missions. Perfect for aspiring astronauts, educators, and space lovers.
- Interactive 3D spacecraft models
- Augmented reality viewing
- True-to-life and adjustable scaling
- Detailed mission information
- In-app camera functionality
- Explore Earth, Mars, and beyond
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Created by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, this stunning educational app uses native mobile augmented reality to bring spacecraft explorers from across the solar system to whatever space you’re in. Find a flat surface and view interactive 3D models right in front of you, scaled to table-top size or in their true-to-life proportions. Take pics with the spacecraft in your favorite environments, and explore detailed info about their fascinating missions. This tool is excellent for budding astronauts, teachers, and space enthusiasts. Bring NASA’s journey of exploration to life in the classroom, home, or anywhere. Features: Interact with 3D spacecraft models of the Curiosity rover, Mars Exploration Rover (Spirit/Opportunity), InSightSMAP, Voyager, Juno, and Cassini, the 70-Meter Deep Space Network Antenna and more. Learn about missions that explore Earth, Mars, and beyond True-to-life and adjustable size interaction In-depth information about each space mission Camera functionality
Sandbox AR
Create, build, and explore immersive virtual worlds using augmented reality. This app allows users to scale creations to life-size and share them with others. It's designed to bring interactive technology into educational settings.
- Create, build, and explore in AR
- Life-size scale exploration
- Share creations via QR code
- Capture snapshots and videos
- Teacher audio descriptions (DE:X subscribers)
- Link to curated resources (DE:X subscribers)
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--- Multi award-winning augmented reality maker app --- - BETT Awards 2023 Best AR/VR ! - GESS Awards 2023 Best Digital XR / VR / AI Product - spaces4learning New Product Award 2022 ! -- What is Sandbox? -- Experience, build, and explore in AR with Discovery Education Sandbox. Designed as a companion to the award-winning Discovery Education Experience learning platform, bring immersive technology and content into the classroom. Choose from hundreds of models and create a virtual world to experience and share with fellow students and teachers. Use life size mode to scale up and walk inside your own creation! -- Features -- • Create, build and explore in augmented reality. • Explore creations in life-size scale! • Share your sandboxes with other users with a simple QR code. • Capture snapshots and videos of your sandbox. -- Enhanced features for DE:X subscribers -- As a Discovery Education Experience or Espresso subscriber, access additional features to add teacher audio descriptions to sandboxes and add links to your own curated resources on Experience or Espresso. Integrate with studio boards and access future additional model packs.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is review sentiment: Sandbox AR at 100% against Spacecraft AR's 53%. Sandbox AR also leads on rating (4.7 vs 3.1) and update cadence (every 2 months vs every 7 months). Spacecraft AR's advantage is device support (3 vs 1). On price, ratings volume, ads and in-app purchases there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Sandbox AR holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.1. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 25 and 11 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 53% of Spacecraft AR's written reviews are positive against 100% of Sandbox AR's.
Spacecraft AR ships an update every 7 months, Sandbox AR every 2 months. The most recent releases landed on October 11, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Spacecraft AR | Sandbox AR |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 3.1 (25 ratings) | 4.7 (11 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 53.3% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 25 — better | 11 |
| Update frequency | Every 7 months | Every 2 months — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Free | Free |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better | iPad |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 | 14.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 160 MB | 1.6 GB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Jet Propulsion Laboratory | Discovery Education Inc. |
Customer experience
Spacecraft AR
Sandbox AR
In-app purchases
Spacecraft AR
No in-app purchases
Sandbox AR
No in-app purchases
Questions
Is Spacecraft AR free?
Is Sandbox AR free?
Which has better reviews, Spacecraft AR or Sandbox AR?
Do Spacecraft AR or Sandbox AR have ads?
Which is updated more often, Spacecraft AR or Sandbox AR?
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